Everything in life is an opportunity, even when it doesn’t seem like it. I learned this phrase the other week and it really made my ears perk up. What an unusual concept right? How can everything be an opportunity? Especially when shitty things happen in life? How on earth can that be an opportunity?

Shockingly it can, it’s just all about how you reframe your thoughts.

Reframing is concept that I absolutely love. We can reframe our thoughts to look at situations in a different light. Let’s say someone stole my purse. I would instantly have a negative thought on this situation because my purse is gone which was maybe carrying my phone and wallet. Now I have to cancel all of my cards and buy a new phone – there goes a couple hundred dollars! Now let’s try reframing that. Yea I got mugged and that’s shitty, but at least I’m safe and alive! All of those things that got stolen are replaceable. You can buy a new purse, you can order new credit cards and you can buy a new phone. After this reframe, I can turn this crappy situation into an opportunity in many ways. I can use this experience as an opportunity to enroll myself in self-defense classes. Or maybe I can use it to get more involved and talk to high school and colleges about how women can protect themselves. Or maybe I can think of a way to volunteer my time to make myself feel more empowered after this shitty situation. Be creative!

Or let’s say you can’t stand your boss. Take that thought and reframe it. Yea my boss may drive me crazy, but this is an opportunity for me to test my patience and how I handle difficult situations. How’s that for an opportunity huh!?

Reframing situations can turn almost anything into an opportunity. So when crappy things happen to you, remember that everything is an opportunity. It may be hard to see in that moment, but it’s important that we don’t let crappy things beat us down. Go ahead and take your time to be upset about something shitty when it happens. That’s 100% normal and it’s something that we all need to do. But don’t let things fester. Whether it’s something small and simple, to huge and drastic, dwelling on stuff is not good. Those negative thoughts will just fester in your head. Have you every noticed when one shitty thing happens that a lot of negative stuff happens at the same time? Negativity attracts to us when we have a negative outlook. But if we can reframe our train of thought, we can get past shitty situations and move forward.

I want to be clear, I’m not saying that we can’t be upset about things that happen – that is NOT the point I’m trying to make. We should always feel the emotions we need to feel. Do you ever feel like you just need a good cry? I do. Instead of holding in my tears I go ahead and just cry. And after that cry, I feel 10 times better. I needed to feel that emotion in that moment. After that moment passes, that’s where I usually reframe my thoughts. It can be as simple as, today was crappy and I didn’t feel good, but tomorrow is a new day for me. That reframe helps me get out of my head and into a better place.​So next time something crappy happens, try reframing your thought and turn that situation into an opportunity.